JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two weeks before he shot and killed Jared Bridegan on a dark Jacksonville Beach street in 2022, Henry Tenon had a negative bank balance, according to financial records released Monday by the State Attorney’s Office.
Seven weeks after the deadly ambush in February 2022, Tenon’s account was flush thanks to three check deposits totaling $10,000.
The checks were written to Tenon from First Choice Home Rentals LLC, a company co-owned by Bridegan’s ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, and her new husband, Mario Fernandez.
The three checks, which were signed by Fernandez, were for:
- $2,000 on March 28 (For landscaping and clearing)
- $3,000 on March 28 (For keeping up with the roof)
- $5,000 on April 4 (For Kickstarter Good Luck!!)
The bank records released Monday are part of the evidence prosecutors are relying on in what they’re calling a “murder-for-hire” case.
Belkis Plata, a Jacksonville attorney unaffiliated with the case, shared her thoughts on the documents that were released.
“I think this is just more of connecting the dots and being able to establish the fact that there was money exchanged and the argument will be that the money was for Mr. Bridegan’s assassination,” Plata said.
Gardner and her now estranged husband Fernandez are charged with first-degree murder with a weapon, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, solicitation to commit a capital felony and child abuse (because Bridegan’s 2-year-old daughter was present during the murder. She was not hurt).
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Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against both Gardner and Fernandez.
Tenon pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the Bridegan case and agreed to testify against the estranged couple.
The financial records released Monday show Tenon had a bank balance of just 52 cents on Jan. 6, six weeks before the murder, and then on Feb. 4, his account was negative $2.38.
The records include copies of the checks signed by Fernandez, which Tenon deposited within days of the dates on the checks.
The State Attorney’s Office also released financial records showing Fernandez was the trustee of “The Shanna Gardner Irrevocable Trust.” Bank statements for the trust show two separate transfers, each valued at $5,000, to First Choice Home Rentals LLC. One transfer was dated March 15, 2021. The other was dated April 26th, over one month later. In the legal document for Gardner’s trust arranged by her parents is a section stating: “Furthermore, and notwithstanding the foregoing, when our daughter, Shanna, shall have no further legal entanglements with her ex-husband, Jared G. Bridegan, she may elect to serve as the Trustee, by delivering a signed and notarized document to the Trustee then in Office.”
The records for the trust include checks written by Gardner to various businesses and a check from Gardner’s parents written to Gardner for $75,000.
“I think the defense will obviously argue that those monies were paid for legitimate reasons,” Belkis said. “But I think because of his background, the relationship that they had, and now the fact that they’re giving him large quantities of money kind of lend themselves to be more, more in line with the state’s theory of the case.”
The documents show that Fernandez owned 60% of the real estate company, and Gardner owned 40%. The financial records for the business include checks written by both Shanna and Mario to various businesses and checks written to Mario by tenants.
Murder-for-hire investigation
Bridegan, a 33-year-old father of four, was gunned down outside his SUV on Feb. 16, 2022, after he stopped to move a tire that was blocking the road.
He was taking his normal route home after dropping off the twins he shared with Gardner at her Jacksonville Beach home.
According to police reports, Tenon fired four shots, two hit Bridegan and two hit the SUV.
Surveillance video of the ambush murder showed the muzzle flashes and Tenon running away, the reports state.
Cellphone records also put Tenon in Jacksonville Beach on the night of the murder. He was arrested on unrelated charges in August and pressed about Bridegan’s murder.
Police later obtained Tenon’s bank records and found the three checks.
Fernandez was arrested in March 2023 and is accused of orchestrating the murder conspiracy that ended with Bridegan’s death.
In August 2023, Gardner was indicted by a grand jury in Florida and later arrested in Washington state before being extradited to Jacksonville.
Their trial is tentatively set for October 2025.
